Cricket Tournaments

After the Sydney fiasco Pakistan had rung in a lot of changes. It was “just the usual” in the Pakistan camp with controversies over the selection of keeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed.

The board sent Sarfraz Ahmed and was staunch on their stance of wanting him to play. Meanwhile, Mohd Yousuf was in full favour of Kamran Akmal playing. As it panned out Akmal was left out leaving Ahmed to make his debut.

For the third time in a row Ponting won the toss and chose to bat again. Critics questioned whether Ponting was still good enough to bat at number three.

Only Ponting was confident in his abilities and a day prior to the test spoke out and maintained he is still the best batsman at 3 in his country. Ponting was having one of his worst home seasons.

He was about to change all of that. Australia lost Katich pretty early in the piece. In came Ponting; a wonderful reception from his home crowd.

Mohd Asif bowled a pretty decent bouncer to Ponting early on only to be dropped by Mohd Aamer at fine leg. Ponting had – had his moment. This was it.

His first fifty was one of the worst one could see Ponting at; nudges plays and misses and also getting hit on the head by an Umar Gul bouncer. Ponting survived all of that.

He then looked as flawless as ever. The drives were back, the pull was back—RICKY PONTING WAS BACK! Ponting went on to score a critic answering 209. He added 300+ with Michael Clarke who hit 166. Australia declared at 519.

Pakistan were off to a decent start before Farhat poked at one away from his body. Pakistan then lost 3 quick wickets and were left reeling at 84 for 4. Salman Butt (102) and Shoaib Malik made (58) the only sizeable contributions as Pakistan were bowled out for 301.

Katich made up for his first innings score by registering his 9th test match century. Ponting too resumed from where he left off in the first innings and the duo set Pakistan a target of 438. Pakistan collapsed for 206 with Khurram Manzoor making 77.

Australia had ended another season on a high.
5 wins out of 6 test matches—pretty satisfying. They would be hoping to replicate the same next time they are back on home shores.

What can Pakistan take out of this series?

Pakistan’s new found youngsters—Umar Akmal and Mohd Aamer—Umar Akmal confirmed in Australia –the trailer (in New Zealand) that his movie was to be a box office hit. On the other hand Mohd Aamer seems to be improving with every match and “fall”!
Pakistan have found back the old Mohd Asif. He is back to his swinging best and put on display a wonderful spell of bowling at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Pakistan seem to have found a steady opening partnership at last in Salman Butt and Imran Farhat.
Note: Pakistan could surely do without their careless running.

Salman Butt

Salman Butt’s third century and his first in four years ensured that Ricky Ponting did not enforce the follow on as Pakistan were bowled out for 301. Australia went in to stumps at 59 for 1 at the end of the third day’s play with a healthy lead of 277.

Pakistan were in dire straits when play resumed but, it were the old foes Butt (102) and Malik (58) who put on a 129 run stand for the 5th wicket which gave the Pakistan total some much needed respect.

Malik batted well in his comeback innings and was decisive with his footwork. Salman butt was exquisite with his shots through the offside and seemed to pierce the field at every attempt he made in doing so. Butt did well to reach a hundred, however his captain wasn’t seen cheering his century.

On display were typical “Asian wrists” as the duo flicked their way to lunch unscathed. The Australian bowlers were disciplined but results never seemed to come until Ponting brought on part timer Simon Katich who accounted for Salman butt and Debutant Sarfraz Ahmed within two overs.

Australia looked all set to enforce the follow on when Pakistan were reeling at 248 for 9. However, the last wicker pair of Umar Gul and Mohd. Asif put on a 50 run stand thus putting enough doubt into Ponting’s mind about the follow on. The Australian pacers were far too short to the tail-enders especially with a new cherry in hand.

After the second day’s play Ponting was quite intent on enforcing the follow on. However, the last wicket partnership took its toll on the Australian seamers as they took a 106 Overs to bowl out Pakistan. In spite of the two major partnerships in the day Pakistan’s batting left a lot to be desired.

Pakistan are missing a number 3; Pakistan are missing YOUNIS KHAN. Ponting then decided to have a bat although the weather forecast over the next couple of days isn’t too good; thus ensuring the match will last five days. Australia lost Shane Watson to early in the mix leaving the score at 1 for 1.

A rare flop for Watson who has had a wonderful season with the bat. Ponting (25*) and Katich (33*) batted through to stumps leaving Australia in a commanding position at the start of day4. The surface looks a good one to bat on as shown by the inability of the Australian bowlers to clean up the tail.

Australia must declare with a sizeable lead between Lunch and tea tomorrow if they want to complete a whitewash. They must consider the unpredictability of the Pakistan batting line-up and the trueness of the surface. The fourth day’s play promises to be an intriguing one.

Quite a few days have passed since the Sydney debacle. However, the backlash from Pakistan continues unabated. And expectedly so, as the Pakistan cricket team made a mockery of the Test at Sydney. This was not the first time they had committed hara-kiri of such magnitude, and definitely won’t be the last.

But, it was among the worst chasing efforts ever in the history of Test cricket, that too against the weakest Aussie side of the last two decades. What should have been golden chance for Pakistan turned out to be yet another missed opportunity. The loss has not only hurt Pakistani fans, but cricket lovers the world over, since all expected a tough contest between the two teams.

While the Sydney hurt will stay with the Pakistanis for some time to come, they have to try and look forward to putting up an improved showing at Hobart. The series may be lost, but they have a lot to play for. Avoiding a clean sweep – they have been blanked on the last three occasions – will be an achievement in itself.

Keeping that in view, expect a few changes. For one, Sarfraz Ahmed, who has been sent a SOS, will definitely replace Kamran Akmal, who might not be seen in whites for a long time following his schoolboyish effort at Sydney. Non-performers like Faisal Iqbal and Misbah-ul-Haq too need to go.

Even as the changes are mandatory, the team and the management need to do more than just shuffle around their players. Sadly for Pakistan, they do not get to play Test cricket at home these days due to the constant terror threat in their country. But, that is something beyond their control and they need to try and focus on the job at hand, which they clearly haven’t been doing on current evidence.

First and foremost, their new skipper Mohammad Yousuf needs to get his act right. He has been doing reasonably well with the bat, but his captaincy has been far from inspirational. The manner in which he allowed Australia to get away on the final day at Sydney was baffling. Agreed, he is still learning the tricks of leading the side.

However, he has enough experience to at least decipher how to react to a situation. Instead, Yousuf was prepared to sit back and watch. Pakistan would do well to resolve their inner conflicts and get back their first choice skipper Younis Khan as soon as possible.

That said, one can’t entirely blame the loss on Yousuf’s negative captaincy. As he rightly pointed out, both prior to and after the disaster at Sydney, the younger generation seems keen only on T20. And as if to add credence to their skipper’s comments, the team went out and batted like they were playing a 20-over game.

They way they crumbed made one wonder whether these players can survive even 20 overs in the shorter format. Clearly, this is a dangerous sign for Pakistan cricket and unless they are willing to learn from their mistakes, there is a bumpy ride ahead for Pakistan cricket.